


Ice, Stone, and Light

by clightlee



Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/M, valley of the hidden dinosaur
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-04 00:48:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13352982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clightlee/pseuds/clightlee
Summary: Soul Rider Carina Lightlee gets an offer she can't refuse from notorious explorer Nic Stoneground. Will they discover more than ruins and bones on their winter expedition?





	1. The Ice Bird Cometh

**Author's Note:**

> Hi SSO friends! I resolved to write more in 2018 than I did in 2017 so here is my first offering to the Star Stable fanfiction library. What's the quintessential SSO fic? The shipping one, of course. So I'm gonna take a stab at it. All feedback is good feedback.

It came by carrier pigeon.

 

_Of course he'd use a carrier pigeon_ she thought with an eyeroll. But it was really more of a carrier _falcon,_ hook-beaked and long-taloned, unlike any other bird Carina had seen in the skies of Jorvik. Likely some endangered ice-resistant raptor from the highest reaches of the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur, something nobody'd seen in ages. The bird looked at her inquiringly from its perch atop her mailbox. A scraggly roll of what looked to be waterproof notebook paper was tied (haphazardly, naturally) to one powerful ankle.

"Fine. Give it here."

The bird proffered its foot serenely. Carina dropped her horse's reins and worried the knotted twine free. The note, unfurled, read:

 

_Carina,_

_In dire need of equestrian assistance. Steep terrain, hazardous conditions, ice winds and perhaps a civilization predating the Kallters?? Bring personal supplies for min. ten days, be prepared for potential bivouac. Will need pack string, dried foods, spare socks. If interested, return bird with affirmative and rendezvous at Valley base camp in two days' time. If uninterested, wire to AAE on my behalf asking for immediate support._

_Nic_

 

Carina savagely bit down on the insides of her cheeks to quell the burning blush that swept across her face. She'd not heard from Nic Stoneground, rugged explorer, archaeologist, mountain man, and self-taught genius, for over a year. In that year, it had proved embarrassing how often he'd crossed her mind. The months she'd spent living out of a rough hide tent in an icebound forest, chipping away at permafrost to uncover dinosaur skeletons and ancient relics, had been both grueling and rewarding. She'd worked harder than almost any time in her life, and got little more than her name in the footnotes of the AAE report on the completed skeletons. That, and the recollections of days spent toiling alongside the enigmatic yet charming explorer, trading jokes through puffs of breath in the cold air and encouraging each other in between frustrated curses at the cold, the rock, the wind and snow. Since Carina's return to the relatively tame hills and dales of Jorvik and Nic's retreat further into the uncharted recesses to the North, there'd been no contact between them. Until today.

She'd subconsciously scanned the sky for biplanes and balloons this long year despite herself. Only a heartless fool would disregard his letter. Here was the chance to uncover another of Jorvik's close-held secrets- and rekindle a flame that had just began to grow when time and distance had-

 

Brightstar huffed in disgust. Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. The dappled gelding was clearly reading his soul rider's mind and finding the contents to be deplorable mush. He was also just barely honoring the spirit of ground-tying; he was munching at a thistle-patch suspiciously far from where Carina had dropped his reins moments ago.

"You're quite right, Bri, it's all stuff and nonsense," Carina sighed, crossing to her steed and unearthing a pen from one beat-up saddle bag. "I just happen to be the only person Nic knows who just happens to own a kickass string of mountain-savvy trail horses and won't charge him Everest fees for their use." Brightstar bobbed his head, as if to say, "Sensible assessment."

 

Carina penned a quick response on the reverse of Nic's note:

 

_Leaving at first light, will bring Beryl for you -C_

 

She fastened the note to the pigeon/falcon's leg with some difficulty. The bird was pacing in anticipation and could not be bothered to hold still. "Go on home now, beaky friend," Carina said. The bird cocked its head at her, then launched itself into the painfully blue January sky. She watched it as it became a speck in the clouds, then disappeared.

 

"We've got some packing to do, boy." She turned, leading Brightstar through the doors of her barn. "Can you hold down the fort while we're gone?" Brightstar shot her a look as if to say, "What do you think this is, amateur hour?" before trotting off to wait in the wash stall expectantly.

 

...

 

It was with a troupe of three horses and one semi-docile chipmunk that Carina eventually set off across Silverglade and through Valedale to begin her ascent. Lightlee Stables, Inc was left in the capable hands (figuratively speaking) of a stable girl and the too-smart-for-anybody's-own-good Brightstar.

 

Carina had chosen her most mountain-worthy horses for this expedition. She rode Rain, a gray Fjord mare (whose papers called her "Early Morning Rain"), and behind her trotted Beryl (a buckskin North Swedish gelding properly styled "West With The Knight," the agreeable steed Nic Stoneground had ridden during their last escapade) and Rosie, the happiest Halflinger on God's green earth (and fancifully named Pelorus Rose, not that anyone would equate her bouncy fluffiness with such class). Despite Carina's protests, Thisbe, a chipmunk who had one day shown up in the rafters of her barn and never left, insisted upon coming along. She was presently curled in Carina's saddlebag, gorging herself on pumpkin seeds and crowing every so often. Both Beryl and Rosie carried hastily-packed bags consisting of bedding, warm clothing, a superabundance of alpine safety equipment, and enough food to last two humans ten days on a mountain. They also carried three days' supply of wilderness supplementary rations for three ravenous horses, who would be able to graze on various grasses at the timberline but still needed a nightly booster of oats and carrots. Lashed to Rain's saddle was Old Betty, a trusty pickaxe, and Carina's surveying kit, replete with marine binoculars, film camera, excavation tools, and the contents of her junk toolbag.

 

"And the only beauty supplies I've brought are sunscreen and an old hairbrush," she confided to Rain as they sidled through the Hollow Woods. "I'll be wrapped in shapeless layers and nobody, least of all Nic Stoneground, will see much more than the end of my nose for the next ten days. HAH." Carina was trying hard to convince herself that she wasn't helplessly hoping for something, anything to happen between she and Nic on that high cold mountain. She was endeavoring to focus on practical things: the daily pace they should keep so as not to grow fatigued; the possible locations of Nic's dig site; the awkward pleasantries she'd have to exchange with Elsa Einstein's camp when she passed through without getting roped into doing odd jobs that Elsa herself was more than capable of accomplishing. She'd be fine. Still...

 

Still, she wished that she'd thought to bring a parka slightly more becoming than her ancient reindeer hide number, bought fourth- or fifth-hand off the Kallters. "I guess it't up to chance and Aideen's good graces," she thought aloud. Beryl snorted judgmentally from behind her. "Right. I smell like a rancid reindeer. It'll never happen."


	2. Snow Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carina and co. make their way to the Valley. Unfortunately, they're greeted there by less than ideal circumstances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all who have read and will read. I crave criticism.

Carina and company spent the first night out in Valedale. She boarded the horses with the local stables and took a room in the hostel next door. She had a quiet dinner with Avalon across the river- it consisted entirely of potato-based foods, but she politely cleaned her plate anyway- and woke up before the sun the next morning to begin the difficult ascent to Dinosaur Valley's entrance.

 

"One more day before I have to start overanalyzing every interaction I have with him," she opined to Thisbe the chipmunk, who was probably asleep anyway. With this no-pressure time-cushion in mind, it was a beautiful and relaxing hike to the top. As they rose above the morning mist, the clouds parted to reveal an ocean of treetops shrouded in swirling vapor, marching all the way out to sea. The turrets of Silverglade castle stood proudly in their midst. When Carina turned to look at her destination, the massive glacier marking the entrance to the valley was already looming so high above her that she couldn't make out the top. She shivered, out of cold or out of anticipation.

 

...

 

The elevator, while expedient, was hardly fit to hold three heavily laden horses, so Carina opted to point Rain down the series of switchbacks that passed for a trail. The temperature seemed to drop with each step downwards. Of course, this meant that she and her herd were relatively safe from avalanches. The probability of an avalanche grew with rising temperatures, as melting snow and ice caused shifts in the mountainside's winter mantle- at least that's what she told herself as she pulled a misshapen beanie, lovingly knit by Mrs. Holdsworth, from her saddlebag, and donned it against the chill.

 

They took their descent slowly, slowly, and the morning had turned to afternoon by the time the group reached the plain stretching out to the shores of the frozen lake. How must they look fromm above? Were they unrecognizable specks from, say, the cockpit of a small airplane or the basket of a hot air balloon? Carina looked up, but all she saw was swirling mist.

Soon, the incredible scent of woodsmoke began wafting through the still, sterile air. The horses pricked their ears forward and picked up their feet, prancing in anticipation of a warm oat mash and a toasty stall. Thisbe deigned to scamper from the saddlebag to perch on Carina's shoulder, chirping pleasantly. Carina also wanted to chirp. When she thought of the base camp, she thought of the early days of her association with the Stoneground expedition, building a tiny safe haven in the wilderness and getting to know the mysterious explorer who badly needed its warmth. Her thoughts wandered and she closed her eyes against the flying flurries of snow, so as to better conjure the memories she sought.

 

...

 

She'd encountered Nic during her first month in Jorvik, before she'd even raised the money to purchase Brightstar's papers from the Moorlands. She'd been out riding her soul steed on a mild summer evening when she chanced upon a downed balloon in the Everwind fields. The owner of the balloon had emerged from under the acres of colorful cloth- the "envelope," as Nic would later teach her to call it- and had flagged her down, asking for help. She'd already read his journals, preserved in the Silverglade library, and formed a deep, abiding crush on the faceless explorer. To be suddenly confronted by said explorer, rugged face and all, was enough to leave her flustered and fascinated as she watched his balloon float off to the North.

 

That winter, Elizabeth had helped Carina access the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur. She'd found Nic stranded, starving, and moderately frostbitten, and over the course of that winter they'd formed a partnership of sorts. Carina and Beryl had ferried supplies, correspondence, and help to and from the valley and soon had Nic healed. They began mapping and surveying the valley, camping side by side through the frigid nights and toiling alongside each other during the days. At first they were too tired to speak much. Then, at some point, they broke the ice. Carina learned about Nic dropping out of school to go adventuring throughout Scandinavia; she told him about her previous life riding rodeos and scouting after Mustangs in the States. They'd cracked jokes and cooked each other sad freezedried meals. Eventually, they saw the camp in the Valley grow to include more researchers, support staff, even a stable and veterinarian. It became harder to spend time together as the camp became crowded with interns and sightseers. Then, they'd completed the last of the dinosaur skeletons they'd set out to construct. Nic was out of funding; Carina was out of excuses. She'd waved goodbye as he'd flown out of the Valley on an uncannily calm day.

 

 

It had been over a year. She wondered how much he'd thought about her. Her thoughts drifted back to the present, to the camp ahead of them somewhere in the mist and a roaring fire, a hot chai tea with plenty of cream, a warm-

 

"...irresponsible, irrational, puerile and frankly illegal???" The voice was piping through the woods in snatches. It could only belong to one person.

 

"-did you think you would conceivably accomplish? The likelihood of success in such an endeavor-" Carina coaxed her pack string into a trot. Somewhere up ahead, Professor Elsa Einstein was giving someone a tongue-lashing. Odds were, the lashee was none other than the man who'd been exclusively occupying Carina's thoughts for the past twenty-four hours.

 

Though equally brilliant and driven, the two researchers were like coca cola and mentos when they spent more than a cordial, strained half-hour together. Einstein was admittedly not Carina's favorite collaborator- she was painfully rule-bound and perpetually lost in the weeds- but she was confident that they could pass a perfectly nice meal together in the camp that night. Carina spent lots of time alone, reading books and speaking mostly to her horses. When she did speak to people, she often found herself using formal, prolix language much closer to Professor Einstein's than to casual human speech. On that level, they got along fine. But if Nic had arrived early, well...

 

"-and send you right back to the University for good this time!" As Carina rounded the last bend, she came upon the scene of the fracas. Einstein was standing looking straight upwards, arms folded tightly and scowling. High in the branches of the tallest pine tree for miles, Nic Stoneground seemed to be recovering the remains of- a small airplane?

 

"Come off it Elsa, we'll be out of your hair in two shakes," Nic cajoled in a shout as he swung monkey-style from one branch to another. He was nearing the lowermost wing of his aircraft and didn't seem to be struggling.

 

"WE?" Einstein asked, glaring skyward. "And which unsuspecting ingenue have you prevailed upon to assist you-"

 

Carina cleared her throat loudly. "Professor Einstein. Nic-"

 

"Carina!" Even from thirty feet below, Carina could see his eyes light up as he saw her. Her heart leaped into her throat and, if she'd had to respond, probably wouldn't have been able to squeeze out more than a strangled peep. Thankfully and predictably, Professor Einstein broke in.

 

"Really Miss Lightlee, I'd have thought you had more presence of mind than that. What Mr. Stoneground proposes is utterly aberrant, specious in the extreme and due to miserably fail. Not to mention prohibitively expen-"

 

"Untrue!" Nic was now planted behind his glider, backed against the trunk and pushing at the wedged craft with his jackbooted feet. "You've not seen the place with your own two eyes, Elsa. It's within our grasp if only-" Nic gave one last push and the glider popped free, taking with it most of the branches in its vicinity on its plummet down. Nic came too. And for an instant, his eyes locked on Carina's as, frozen in the frozen air, he started toppling down.


	3. Covered and Discovered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carina must choose between saving Nic and revealing her Soul Rider powers. After a visit to the Kallters, the explorers discover a likely identity for the ruins they seek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Burgie for the nice comments! <3

In the split second before Nic hit the permafrost, Carina had to make a snap decision: reveal her powers to two prominent scientists, or let her crush/mentor/friend/collaborator break any number of crucial bones. Carina's healing powers were still undeveloped; she didn't trust herself to use her Lightning Circle zapping powers to do anything but fry everything within a ten-foot radius. So, in that split second, she compromised.

Carina yanked the knot tying Beryl's lead to her saddle and whooped for her pack horses to run. Suddenly freed, Beryl and Rosie bolted down the trail, straight towards Professor Einstein. Carina heard a muffled "Oh, dear!" as the professor leapt into a snowdrift, momentarily distracted. Carina spurred Rain forward to where Nic had fallen. She dived from the saddle, took his pulse, checked his pupils, heard his ragged breath, then placed her palms on his chest and _healed._

The warm sensation of her Star Circle medicine coursing from her fingertips to mend bruised and broken bones filled Carina with a sense of calm. It took but an instant; as Nic's eyes fluttered open she was already stepping away. Professor Einstein was just extricating herself from the snowbank, flustered.

Nic was patting his ribs, wriggling his fingers in disbelief. "I- Carina, what just happened?"

"You seem to have survived your fall with nary a scratch," she countered, adding a cheerful note to her shaky voice. "Though I can't say the same thing for your glider." _Distract, distract. Yes, look over there. Good._

Nic cursed and jumped to his feet, forgetting that he'd just miraculously survived a thirty-foot fall. He ran to the glider, which was grounded at an unhealthy angle with one graceful wing snapped. Nic ran his hands over the fuselage, felt the jagged ends of the broken wing, and then curtly nodded to himself. "It'll be an easy day's fix, if we can borrow a welding torch and a few volunteers." He turned to Professor Einstein. "Can you make that happen for us, when we've returned from the mountain?"

Einstein was already picking her way back towards the camp, stiff with cold and fussiness. "We'll discuss that _if_ you return," she said chillingly over one shoulder, and then proceeded on.

  
Carina and Nic stood motionless for a second, letting their breath cloud the air between them. Then one smiled, at the same time as the other, and it was as if no time had passed at all.

"So you made it," Nic said warmly, clasping her hand in a bone-cracking handshake. Internally, Carina approved; she hated contrived hugs.

"It was easy for me, comparatively speaking," she laughed. "How in Aideen's name did you manage to lodge a glider in that monster? And where in hell did you get a carrier ice-eagle?"

"Let's walk and talk, shall we?"

"But of course." Carina whistled and Beryl and Rosie came trotting back over, noses rimed with snow from hunting for icethistles.

"I missed you, you big lug," Nic cooed as he ruffled Beryl's forelock. The buckskin gelding whuffed in his face approvingly.

Both riders mounted- Nic, a bit awkwardly around Beryl's saddlebags- and Carina fastened a lead Rosie's halter. They ambled off towards the camp, following Einstein's sharp footsteps. Carina breathed a sigh of relief; it didn't look like miraculous recoveries were foremost in Nic's busy mind.

  
"So the ice eagle," Nic began, turning towards Carina. When his deep dark gaze fell on her, Carina had to fight a blush and the urge to turn away. She depended on the icy air to cool her face and forced herself to meet his gaze. "I took the glider over the mountains from Jorvik City on a hunch. When I flew out of here last year, I noticed spires on a cliff just above the Ashen Steep. I couldn't shake the feeling that something worthwhile was up there. So I built a case to pitch to AAE to throw some funding my way, but they wouldn't bite. They said they'd already invested enough in Dino Valley- 'frozen ice hell-land,' I think one of the chairmen called it. Anyway, I decided to take matters into my own hands." Nic shrugged innocently. "Glider was an abandoned prototype from the Aeronautics department destined for the scrap heap anyway. I took off in the dead of night, landed up thereabouts-" he motioned, vaguely, to the mist-clad mountains to the North- "and realized, within minutes, actually, that I needed your help unless I wanted to shuffle off this mortal coil."

  
"But the ice eagle." Carina wasn't going to let flattery make her forget the real questions. She wanted an ice eagle. Who wouldn't?

Nic shrugged with a grin. "He just showed up. The morning I flew in. Must have been domesticated by someone up here, likely the Kallters."

"Think they sent him?"

"I hadn't thought of that, to tell you the truth." Nic stroked his beard- less bushy than when last Carina had seen him, but still impressive- pensively.

Aha. "Maybe we should stop by and ask, on our way up, I mean?" A night trading lore around a fire with Nanook and Sedna would be much more productive than a fraught and frigid candlelight dinner with Elsa Einstein. "I'm sure they know loads about your mysterious spires. Plus, Rain wants to visit her brothers and sisters, eh, girl?"

Rain's step had gained some degree of spring at the names of the people who'd raised her from a foal.

  
"Then that settles it!" Nic cried jovially, clearly enjoying the way his booming baritone echoed in the still, frozen air.

...

  
They might as well have spent the next hour catching up at a booth in Leonardo's over a pair of ice cream sundaes. Nic filled Carina in on his year tunneling through archives and fighting treacherous grant applications. He'd been almost solely responsible for recording the wealth of findings they'd made in Dinosaur Valley, and aside from a few trips to Denmark to study early Drasil-related relics and one epic solo sailing vacation he'd spent most of his time slaving away at official reports and plans for the next step in his expedition. Carina, for her part, glossed over every single thing of real importance that had befallen her since they'd parted. Since they'd said goodbye, she'd ventured twice into Pandoria, spent hours and hours in the only untouched Druid library- Fripp's- in existence, flown through the air on the wings of her previously ordinary soul steed, and possibly raced through another dimension. Instead of that, she talked of the five new horses she'd bought and trained, her part-time gig guiding for the Jorvik rangers in Mistfall, and her most recent forays into ecoterrorism. It had, after all, been a rather busy year.

  
They passed under Icengate just as the sun was dipping below the rim of mountains to the West- it was still early, but twilight came fast in a deep mountain valley. They found Sedna and Nanook and a herd of leggy yearling Kalltic Fjord horses practicing voice commands in the clearing.

"Greetings." Nanook made a swift hand signal and the horses went cavorting off to their stable. "We ascertained you might be joining us, so we've procured extra victuals."

"Many thanks; we've come to ask what you know about a peculiar structure near the Ashen Steep." Nic had encountered the Kallters on professional footing a number of times; he matched their precise, formal Jorvegian in his speech. Carina, not so much.

"Can Rain spend the night in your inner pasture?" she blurted, looking towards the huge ice gates that insulated the Kallters from the rest of the world.

Sedna broke into a smile. "Of course she may, the charming girl! Look how she's grown!" She and Nanook took a few minutes to pat and sweet-talk the grey mare they'd birthed and raised while Carina and Nic dismantled the saddles and packs on the rest of the string. Once all three horses were unfettered, groomed, fed, and watered, they were shooed through the gates into the mysterious and icy realm Carina had only caught slivers of through the opening and closing gates.   
  
...

"As far as we are aware, the spires you seek are some of the earliest Aideenist monuments in Jorvik," Sedna was saying as she poured everyone a second or third cup of piping hot tea. The remains of a sumptuous meal were just being cleared away by Nanook, a most attentive host.

"The Kallters have lived on this island since time immemorial, since before Jarl and his forces landed, even before the Keepers of Aideen were founded." She settled back onto her cushion. "Our people's stories indicate that the earliest Kallters moved to the highest, coldest mountains at the center of the island to escape some terrible menace from the sea- whether that was a fierce seafaring culture or the mythic monster, Garnok, from the Aideenist legends is anyone's guess." She blew steam from her teacup and shrugged. "Though we've since retreated into only the deepest valleys, behind gates of ice, there was a time centuries ago when the Kallters aided the druids in their work keeping Jorvik safe. We believe that it was during this time- the 800s CE, probably- that a temple to Aideen was constructed at a site accessible by Kallters and Jorvegians alike. It fell out of use after Jon Jarl landed and colonized the island, of course." She grimaced. "Jarl's soldiers and the Kallters never got along."

"That would make it one of the most historically significant structures in all of Jorvik," Nic said calmly, though his eyes twinkled with elation.

"To say nothing of what we might learn about the roots of Aideenism and the Soul Rider... mythos," agreed Carina, trying to keep her voice casual. A discovery like this could be an important tool in healing Fripp, accessing Pandoria, defeating the Dark Riders... her mind whirled.

"It's been abandoned now for over four centuries," Nanook reminded them. "Though the climate and dearth of fauna in our Valley suggest that much might be preserved, it may take years of excavation just to reach the original entrance."

Nic beamed across the table at Carina and raised his glass to her in a toast. "Then we have not a moment to lose."


	4. Under the Spires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carina and Nic reach the Aideenist Temple. They are both very bad at expressing their feelings. They find something incredibly valuable and something incredibly dangerous.

Carina and Nic spread their bedrolls on the floor of Sedna and Nanook's yurt that night, and awoke the next morning refreshed. Carina's mind was racing, thinking of the possibilities of a trove of untouched Aideenist relics. She had few thoughts to spare on worry over whether Nic was falling in love with her or not. After a quick breakfast they caught and repacked the horses. They were already climbing the trail leading to the Ashen Steep when Nic shouted into the frosty morning

"SHIT!"

It bounced off the cliffsides and rattled down in the valleys.

"We forgot to ask about the ice-eagle," he said ruefully.

"We'll ask on our way back down for supplies," Carina reasoned. "I only have provisions for another week at most."

"Thank you, for doing all that, I mean." Nic had been his usual happy-go-lucky self all morning, chatting with her about the glories of summer fieldwork, antique woodstoves, and early Jorvegian law manuscripts. He'd also been picking her brain about cold-tolerant horses, and she'd been happy to sing the praises of her own three woolly snow-beasts. Now his voice had softened and her grip tightened on the reins.

"The pleasure is mine," she responded evenly. _And...?_

"I can't imagine what sorts of things I've pulled you away from at a moment's notice just to help me chase a wild goose," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. "But really, I wouldn't dare trying this without your support. I-"

"Don't mention it!" Carina butted in before she died of suspense. Where was he taking this conversation? Every nerve in her body seemed to be straining to know.

"I just want you to know how appreciative I am, is all. And how much I care about... your commitment to exploration. I've never met someone so passionate about this island, and its past, and using its secrets to teach and help others."

"You're just saying that 'cause I'm helping you pro bono, aren't you?" she teased around her heart in her throat. _You have no idea._ She knew he was referring to her months spent searching for artifacts and dinosaur skeletons, drawing and publishing maps, establishing base camps for visitors to newly opened regions and doing her part to prevent GED's laying waste to the land. What he didn't know was that she did these things out of a need older than the ruins they were climbing towards- a need as old as the island itself. 

Nic laughed, thankfully not picking up on her intense reaction. Or at least if he did, he didn't give it away. "No, I really mean it."

...

As they ascended the trail, the air became gradually thinner and colder. A fine, dry snow began to fall, though the wind was mercifully light. Conversation became difficult as their horses were forced to go single file as the trail narrowed. Carina was mildly thankful for this; though they'd resumed their comfortable banter soon after Nic's foray into sincerity, she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Just before the impassable bridge leading further into the icy, volcanic lands, Nic indicated a rough path leading up the cliffside. Rife with switchbacks and sometimes barely visible, it was clear that it hadn't been used for ages- centuries, maybe.  
"At one time this was a major road," he explained. "I took soil samples- really more of an ice core, given the percentage of frozen ground present- and found paving materials contemporary to pre-Jarl roadways in other parts of the island. Since there's not been much melting in the past four hundred years and the wind howls up here, clearing snow, the road's not terribly far down. It gives me hope for our future excavations." There it was- that endearing, enthralling glimmer in his eyes that made Carina's heart swell and head spin.

As they labored upwards- rising out of their saddles to relieve weight on the horses' back legs- Carina considered this glimmer and the person to whom it belonged. _How could I have such a deep crush- be almost_ in love- _with someone I know hardly anything about? We've never gone on a date, never seen where each other lives, never watched a movie together. It defies reason._

Nic was still the irascible, gritty mountain man she'd found mildly frostbitten so long ago, but she'd learned so much more about him since that her first impression hardly seemed relevant. For example: he loved cats, but had never owned one because he traveled so much. She'd never seen him in anything passing for regular attire- mountaineering clothing in garish shades of red and purple and one very hideous woven jacket bartered during some expedition to the Andes were his usual outermost layers. What he wore beneath was anyone's guess. Perhaps he wore nothing at all- but that thought made her blush. What would he look like in a nice suit? In a flannel with jeans, grooming horses on a Saturday morning? Sleeping shirtless in a ray of sun?

...

Eventually they took a rest at the long, skidding depression in the snow made when Nic had landed his glider the first time. They took long drinks of water from their insulated flasks and passed back and forth a bag of dried fruit. "How much further?" Carina asked, eager to reach the site.

"Not too far. If it was a clear day, you'd see that the spires are pretty much right above us- maybe two hundred vertical feet?"

A tingle ran down Carina's spine, one that had nothing to do with the way Nic was playing with Beryl's fuzzy ears and making kissing noises at him. No, this tingle was straight from a former life, electric and instinctive. Something was up there- and it was calling to her, faintly.

She shivered the feeling away, but knew it would be back the closer she got.

 

...

 

The temple opened with a great standing arch hewn from the same pale granite found over the rest of the valley. "I wonder if this has been scoured back to reveal batholith," Nic said excitedly as he rubbed a light skim of snow from the base of one leg of the arch. "If so, this might be almost just as it was when the Kallters started using this site for religious observance."

Carina was having a hard time focusing on his words. A light purple haze seemed to lurk at the corners of her vision. This had happened to her a couple of times before- when approaching the Guardian's Vale, Jarl's tomb, and in the Stone Circle of the druids for the first times. "I'm going to run on ahead and... see if there's a good place to shelter the horses," she excused herself.

"Please stay within earshot. If anything happens to one of us, I want the other to be able to know."

"Absolutely."

The sincere concern in his eyes warmed her heart.

Carina dismounted and led Rain with her right hand and Rosie with her left. The horses seemed to pick up on whatever light magic was drawing her and pricked their ears towards the courtyard beyond the arch. They felt the chill of shadow as they passed beneath the arch; on the other side, the wind sang through pillars and breezeways stretching off into the mist. _Which way?_ It would take weeks to map out where each of the open passages went. Carina closed her eyes and surrendered her mind to the calling. She walked forward, horses in tow.

After a few minutes' blind pacing, Carina felt the snow yield to bare stone beneath her feet. Then- the wind suddenly stopped. She was indoors. And the calling was practically vibrating in her ears with its chanting, though she knew it was silent. She opened her eyes.

Before her was a small chamber, about the size of the average living room. Its ceiling, however, soared upwards, and long beams of white light sliced down to the floor from someplace above the clouds. _The spires._ Carina stood directly below one of them, and her mouth fell agape at the though of constructing such a massive, hollow structure without modern techniques.

In the center of the chamber, throwing a million refractions of the beams of light, was something intimately familiar to Carina: a fragment of Aideen's light. The jagged shard was no larger than a cell phone, but she knew that it held the power to cure curses and, in the process, summon terrible shadows.

"Maybe I can hear it calling because I've used one before. Because I've been to Pandoria? Because I'm getting more in touch with the part of me that's Aideen?" Carina asked the fragment aloud. The singing in her ears had ceased and the fragment glinted in self-satisfaction.

"What do you think?" She turned expositorially to Rain. "This could heal Fripp- or at least do a world of good in finding Anne. But if I remove it now, there's no guarantees that Nick won't find it in my things and think I'm stealing relics." Rosie nudged her between the shoulder blades encouragingly. "I know he'd be okay with it, girl. The whole I'm-part-deity thing, I mean. But... I sort of like how things are going now. This whole normal-girl-has-crush-on-human-guy thing." Rain stamped and shuffled. "Maybe we'll just leave it for now. Not going anywhere anytime soon, are we?"

"Carina!"

This shout was real, frantic, and not in her head. It came faintly from beyond the walls. It echoed in the passage at Carina's back, and it could come only from one person.

"Carina, _help!"_


	5. More Things in Heaven and Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are very bad, but thanks in equal parts to wilderness survival savvy and light magic nobody dies. Yet. honest conversations ensue and we finally get to the heart of the matter.

Carina dropped Rosie's lead, sprang into Rain's saddle, and pelted down the corridor. The wind stung her face as they burst out into the open. Nic was nowhere to be seen.

"Nic!" her voice bounced off the columns and walls.

"Down..." the wind snatched the rest of his reply. Though she couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes, the wind was now howling out in the temple yard. A bad omen.

Carina caught sight of faint footprints leading through one archway to her right. She pointed Rain on until-

"STOP!"

They skidded to a stop just in time to avoid the danger that had befallen Nic: a crevasse had opened up in the passage's granite floor in the hundreds of years since it had been abandoned. The cleft was deep and its sides smooth.

"Be careful, the lip's unstable!" Nic's voice was strained from the bottom of the crevasse. Carina peered over as close to the edge as she dared. Approximately fifty feet down- further than his last fall- Nic lay sprawled on the snow. One arm lay at an unnatural angle; a dislocated shoulder at the very least. It looked as though he'd been caught by the snowy slope at the bottom of the crevasse and rolled the last few meters- a mercy. But as he raised his head, shakily, to look towards her, Carina noticed a red spot in the snow where his temple had lain.

"Oh, shit, Nic, don't move. Lie down! I'm- I'm coming for ya," she yelled down, trying to sound calm. Carina was _not_ calm. Getting down to him wouldn't be overly difficult; she had the right length of rope and knew that a simple emergency rappel would land her at the bottom of the crevasse in fifteen minutes. Getting Nic back up... short of mentally summoning Brightstar and having him fly them out, she had no ideas that wouldn't cause Nic untold amounts of pain.

 _Think._ Would her healing powers relocate a shoulder and a potentially major headwound? No time to think about it. Carina ran for her saddlebag, her 30-meter coil of emergency braided line, and her first aid kit- though she knew it probably wouldn't do anything she couldn't on her own. Next, she scoped around for possible anchor points in the open passage. The rock was smooth; even if she had the time to construct a snow bollard, she doubted it would stick on the scoured, paved floor. The most solid object within reach was, in fact, a large and fuzzy draught horse.

 _Perfect._ If only she could clear her thoughts enough to establish a bit of horse-and-rider communication with Beryl, the calmest and strongest of her three mounts. "Hey, big buddy," Carina cooed, taking deep, cleansing breaths as she hitched and double-hitched one end of her rope to the sturdy pack saddle. "We're going to need you to stay verrry still, okay?" Beryl gave her a stolid look; a good start. "There's gonna be a tug, okay?" She experimentally wrapped the rope around her thigh, waist, and shoulder in a Z pattern and leaned back against it. Beryl didn't budge.

"My life's in your hands, buddy," she sighed, and began feeding line to herself. Slowly, she approached the unstable edge. Thanks to her smaller frame or sheer luck, it held her weight. Carina took one last look at terra firma and her mildly concerned horses, then stepped backwards over the brink.

...

 

 

She reached the snowpack in a matter of minutes, abseiling slightly faster than she would have considered safe were the only other human for miles, her friend, colleague, and love interest, not bleeding from the head directly below.

Carina flexed her hands against spasms of pain. The pads of her winter riding gloves were hot from the rope's friction. It hurt to take them off, but she needed her hands bare to heal.

"Nic?" she asked tentatively, jogging the last few yards down the slope to where he lay.

"You told me to lie still," he mumbled, face to the ice.

He was still conscious. A wave of relief pulsed through her. "Nic, what hurts?"

"It's hardly anything," he murmured. "My arm, pretty excruciating. Ribs. I bashed my head, but it's fine, fine..."

She decided it was best not to tell him about the blood. Yet.

"Can I...see?" she knelt in the snow next to him.

"Be my guest." He flinched at the thought of movement.

Carina reached out one finger tentatively, well out of his line of sight. With a moment's concentration- she was already so keyed up, intent, every cylinder firing- a spark of Star Circle magic flashed at its chilly tip. She lowered her hand slowly, almost imperceptibly, onto his shoulder.

Whoosh!

It was like an electromagnetic wave had just pulsed through the still, frigid air. Nic's shoulder jerked back into place- painlessly, it seemed, but the look of wonderment on his face as he rose to his knees was unmistakable.

"What...?"

"Your head!" Carina reminded him. "You may be concussed. Watch my hand." She raised two fingers and had him follow them back and forth across his field of vision. It was almost distracting to have his direct gaze fixed so close to her face, but Carina had the advantage of a reason to stare into his eyes, looking for signs of overdilated pupils.

"Looks good, but just in case-" she reached across and laid a hand on his temple. This healing was far less dramatic, merely a warm sensation as the bruise shrunk and disappeared, leaving a rogue line of dried blood at the place where he'd skidded just above his ear.

Nic shook his head to clear it and stretched both hands in front of him, turning them this way and that in amazement. "Do I get to know?"

"Know what?" She tried, for an instant, to play innocent.

"So I get to guess." He settled back on his knees, in no rush to be rid of the treacherous crevasse. "Given your interests and uncanny ability with horses, my only guess can be something in the wider Valkyrie tradition. Because you're here on Jorvik, ties to our local goddess are almost inevitable." His eyes lighted with academic interest. "Can you fly? I'll admit to incomplete knowledge of the individual Aideenist cults, but I know-"

Carina narrowed her eyes at him. "You're taking this all rather... casually."

Nic threw back his head and laughed. "You forget, Carina, I spent five months with a semi-sentient refrigerator chained to my wrist. I've witnessed six-hundred-year-old artifacts evaporate before my eyes and visited every marginally important site of every ancient religion in Scandinavia. I know that there are more things in heaven and earth, Carina, than are dreamt of in modern philosophy."

"Well? How long have you suspected?"

Nic gave her a piercing look. "From the first time I met you in the Everwind fields," he said quite seriously.

Carina bit back yet another blush, perhaps her thousandth of this whole ordeal. Really, she was getting tired of it. She couldn't believe he remembered.

"Then you knew before I did," she sighed. "Not that I'm especially surprised. Seems like everyone but me caught on long before I had a clue that things on this island are seldom what they appear to be- even those things within myself."

"But can you fly?" the teasing glint was back.

Carina shot him a look. "Not without Brightstar. And it was only one time. And mystical flight powers or not, you're climbing your own sorry hide up that rope before we catch our deaths down here. The horses are getting hungry."

"That's fair. One last question though, before we climb back up to the real world, where I've twice survived catastrophic falls by virtue of my thick skull and where you're just a normal grad student with a totally normal interest in ancient Aideenism-"

"Yes?"

"Are you incarnated warrior-goddess types allowed to go on dates?"


	6. Fireside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes make their way out of their perilous spot and fail at flirting over terrible food.

Carina fumbled her way through responding to Nic's comment as she approached the rope and mental gymnastics involved in thinking up a way to the top. _I can deal with all_ that _when we're safely in camp, heating freezedried chicken noodle soup over a sad fire._

Thankfully, Beryl was an exceptional horse. They eventually rigged a double bowline at the bitter end of the line for Nic- even though he was seemingly fully healed, they decided against chancing reinjury with night coming on and the temperature dropping dramatically.

Carina tugged on the rope once Nic was seated, swinging. She clucked to Beryl, and when her cluck was snatched away by the wind, tried the loudest whistle she could muster. The rope pulled taut; Nic began to rise upwards. Carina sent calming vibes up over the lip of the crevasse, praying that Beryl wouldn't bolt. He didn't; once safe, Nic sent the harness back down to her and she was sitting in the open passage in minutes.

"Now what?" Carina looked around at the maze of frozen, crumbling stone.

"Find anything good, while I was nearly finding my own demise?" Nic asked.

"We stumbled across a... chamber, but it's not ideally suited to an overnight stay. The ceiling's stories high and vented to let in the light. We couldn't possibly trap any heat in there." She did not mention the fragment of Aideen's light. _Yet._

"Any decent windbreaks?"

"There was an enclosed passage leading to the chamber. It's better than nothing, especially for the horses."

She took off for the passage, a leadrope in each hand, before he had time to comment.

...

The next hour was spent feverishly imposing home on the abandoned temple. Carina stretched a canvas shelter large enough for her horses and carpeted it with as much straw as she dared. She filled their feedbags and groomed them until their coats steamed in the warmth of the shelter. As she brushed she felt the tension drain out of her shoulders. After each horse was groomed she blanketed them and used the whole of her water supply to give them a drink. Nic would be melting snow to replenish it as soon as the fire was hot enough, she predicted.

 _Imminent peril? Sorted. Place to sleep? Problem solved. Next problem..._ the thought of reintroducing DATES with Nic Stoneground made her feel giddy and nauseous at the same time, but she also knew that short of straight up running away there was no way around it.

When she emerged into the passage from the horse's impromptu stable she found Nic cursing a small, sputtery fire between two expertly pitched scout tents. The thought of her pile of sleeping bags and blankets was almost enough to make Carina skip what was sure to be a lackluster meal, but she had a reckoning to oversee.

"Chicken noodle as usual?" she asked, pulling up a saddle blanket as a chair.

"I thought we'd go all out and have either beef stroganoff or chilimac," he said wistfully, reading the labels of their vacuum-sealed rations. "Neither sounds especially palatable though."

Carina stuck her tongue out. "Surely we've got something less grade-school-cafeteria," she sighed, pulling out her second saddlebag of provisions. A cursory rifle found more of the same- and one beautiful, enticing pasta primavera with a 5,000-calorie poundcake on the side.

"That'll do!" Nic smiled. "After today we certainly deserve something mildly enjoyable." He set to adding water to the heating apparatus and adding snow to their pot of meltwater on the fire.

"Firelight, pasta, glacial runoff... is this that date you were talking about?" Carina teased, biting the bullet before she could choke on it.

Nic raised his eyes from the fire. "I was thinking someplace just a little classier. I'll wear clean clothes, and you won't recognize me. That is, if minor deities are allowed to do such things."

Carina burst out laughing. "Nic, I'm pretty sure that the rest of the Soul Riders are all dating _each other,_ " she stated. "We're reincarnated warriors or something, not nuns."

He beamed. "That's encouraging. Ever been to the AAE Observatory above Valedale? I hear that their patio restaurant has the best view in Jorvik. And I bet they'll cut us a deal because of our significant contributions to science."

Carina laughed again. "I was strongarmed into dragging their entire kitchen up that trail, once upon a time. But I've never been to dinner there- never had the occasion I guess. I don't get out much. I'd love to go with you, Nic."

"It's a date, then." He stirred the snow pot meditatively. "I hope you don't think I'm making light of your... fate? Quest? I don't know how you'd describe it. I don't want to pry into private matters where Jorvik hangs in the balance, nor do I wish to disrupt or distract you. It's just-" he smiled to himself- "I didn't ask you out before in anticipation of your becoming an AAE researcher. It would be incredibly unprofessional to express interest, no matter how genuine, in a future employee. But I don't imagine you'll have time for a full-time career as a science professional _and_ save the world from evil incarnate."

Carina could barely contain her smile. "I'll stick with training horses with my mind and using my rune powers to disrupt the capitalist agenda, thank you. Honestly, it feels wonderful to have someone outside the innermost druid circles in on my secret. I can talk to the other people involved in light magic around here, but it's like speaking in an echo chamber, you know? We're all working towards the same impossible goal- and we don't always agree on the methods." She thought of Justin, in some fourth dimension druid jail. She couldn't tell Nic about that now, but someday...

"You knowing and understanding make all this makes it almost seem... normal."

...

The storm was howling outside, but the pasta was delicious given that it had recently been a fibrous pulp. The poundcake was perhaps the most delicious food either of them had ever tasted. Nic made tea once the water finally boiled and added a snort of some local whiskey he'd packed. They toasted survival, good horses, Aideen, and the temple they were huddled in.

"To... the ice eagle!" Nic roared over the wind.

"Where'd he come from??" wailed Carina, the whiskey warming her fingers and toes and heart.

"We'll find out, someday," sighed Nic, staring off down the passage. "But come to think of it, I've never seen a bird like that hanging around the Kallters we know. Perhaps he came from someplace else entirely."

"Where did he go after he delivered my reply?" asked Carina.

"No idea- I went to sleep and when I woke up, he'd flown the coop." He grinned doofily at his pun.

"Did you, like, feed him?"

"Yeah, I gave him a chunk of jerky and some dried cranberries but I don't know if he liked 'em. Not sure if he hawked them up later or not." His eyes grinned punderfully.

Carina rolled her eyes. "Let's leave something out for him. It wouldn't kill us to send word of our continued survival down to Professor Einstein, anyway."

Nic looked longingly at the last morsel of poundcake on his tin plate. "For the greater good and the propagation of scientific thought, eh?"

"To scientific thought!" Carina raised her mug and Nic grudgingly toasted with her.

_Whooosh!_

A gust of wind screamed down the passageway, scattering the embers of their fire and chilling both explorers to the bone.

"I guess the winds are telling us to keep it down," Nic said as they stamped out the glowing coals and began packing up their dishes by the light of their headlamps.

  
"It'll be an early morning. We should probably turn in," Carina agreed, though she was loathe to let a very pleasant evening end.

Nic rose from closing up the last saddlebag of pots and plates. Carina saw his headlamp bobbing towards her through the sheer darkness and a warm glow not unlike that emanating from the headlamp filled her heart. He held the saddlebag out towards her and she fumbled it over her arm.

"Thanks-"

If it had been light, she swore she would have seen him bending down to plant a light kiss on her forehead, right above her headlamp. As it was, she couldn't be certain whether he'd just bumped into her on the way to his tent.


	7. Ice Eagle Redux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It snows. The eagle gets a name and a secret mission! Nic and Carina make some discoveries about the temple and each other, and then make the most important discovery of all. Mild swearing!

With the night came snow; Carina woke to the warmth of an insulated tent and had to kick a drift from the door-flap in order to stumble out into a polar dawn.

Sitting, unruffled, on the boulder that had previously held their offering of poundcake, was the ice eagle.

"Buddy!" Carina crowed, reaching a hand towards the small raptor. The eagle stuffily allowed her to pat its head. "Climb up on my wrist, lil friend?" The eagle eyed her parka sleeve and, with a resigned air, stepped aboard.

"NIC!" Carina pounded on the frozen canvas of his tent. "Our bait worked! He's back! Now we can find out who sent him!"

"Umph?" sleepy noises issued from the tent. She could tell Nic was shuffling awake, yawning and stretching. Then: "Does he have a note?"

"None whatsoever." The bird looked up at her, offended at her lack of gratitude.

"I'll be out in a minute. What's breakfast?"

Carina made a face, but realized that Nic couldn't tell from his hiding place and so augmented her face with wretching sounds. "Granola bars and cold instant coffee. Missed it?"

"I have, in fact," Nic replied primly. "Better than no breakfast at all."

"You know, I'm sure glad that my destiny prevents me from being a legendary explorer," Carina teased. "Even though I'm continuously thrown into supernatural peril at least I get a proper breakfast every now and then."

  
...

With the eagle in tow (Nic began inexplicably referring to it as "Tordenskjold") the two adventurers let the horses out to graze on sparse ice thistles while they munched on their granola bars. Then they gathered a few rudimentary tools- picks, shovels, eco-friendly marking paint- and trotted a short distance down an unexplored passageway to the subject of today's dig: a rather small door, spotted by Nic right before his tumble. It was no larger than that of your average bathroom, and pressed shut by a rockslide.

"Before we start digging, where do we send Tordenskjold?" asked Nic, fondly stroking the eagle's chin.

"Maybe he understands Jorvegian commands. Let's ask him to go home, with a note from us," suggested Carina, unearthing a notepad and stubby pencil from her back pocket.

"It should say, 'Dear valued ally, thank you for sending your bird of prey to us. We would love to know more about him and his origins.' Sound diplomatic enough?"

Carina finished scribbling. "Depends. If they're really our valued allies, should be fine. If they're something more sinister..." she shivered involuntarily.

"C'mon, would the forces of evil be able to train a beautiful bird like Tordie?"

_"Tordie???"_

"Worst case scenario, we get a note back that says FUCK YOU," Nic reasoned. "Or a crudely-drawn obscenity."

Carina finished tying the note to the eagle- _Tordie's_ \- foot. "Whatever you say, bossman. Now: fly home, pretty bird!"

Tordenskjold took off into the ether with a majestic shriek. Both watched him fly until he disappeared in the flying mist.

...

In two hours of heavy work Carina and Nic managed to pound their way through most of the rubble. The door had no lock or handle. A shallow etching could now be seen on the door's face; runes, flowers, the pointy-legged horses common in depictions of Aideen-related lore, and a central image of the Harp were revealed when Carina rubbed a few handfulls of snow into the carving for relief.

"Nothing out of the ordinary so far," Carina said, tilting her head to get another view of the door. "What I'm wondering about is this: the... relic I found yesterday is just, like, down the hall and through the first arch. No dramatic impassable stone door, no suspicious rockslide. It's just sitting there unguarded."

"Did you touch it?" Asked Nic.

"I would've, had you not yelled for help when you did," she replied. "But even without touching it I recognized what it is. I've used one before. For my other job."

"Is it classified? Druid eyes only?"

Carina briefly weighed her options. The fragment held power unimaginable to most humans. Then again, Nic wasn't just an ordinary human. "Nic, what's the rarest, most valuable, most powerful religious artifact you've ever found?"

He thought for a moment. "Here on Jorvik? I once found a runestone on Epona-no bigger than a saddlebag- with the Aideen origin story carved into it. When you spoke the words in ancient Jorvegian in its presence, it would glow a faint purple. We think it's old enough to be the original record of Aideen, maybe even written by she herself. We'd seen that same passage written thousands of times across the centuries, but this is the oldest copy of it we've got. No idea what it could do if one of you magical types were to use it though."

"And what did you do with the runestone? Once you found it, I mean."

"What any professional would- took it to the University lab for carbon analysis and a complete 3D scan. It's now preserved in the Jorvik Heritage Museum in Jorvik city, but only comes out on display a few times a year to prevent UV damage."

"Okay. That makes sense. But... this thing, we can't donate or carbon date or preserve it or anything like that. It's incredibly powerful and dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. It could even mean the difference between life and death for a... friend of mine." Carina hadn't ever thought of Fripp as a friend before; more like a retainer, a boss, a literal space cadet with the power to control her. But none of those titles would make Nic want to give up the fragment. "As soon as we've reached a stopping point here, it's imperative that I take this thing down to Valedale and put it in the right hands."

Nic gave a curt nod. "Do what you need to do. Just- can I see it?"

"Once we've figured this door out, why not?"

...

The two tried everything under the sun- or in this case, under the low ceiling of freezing fog- to get the door to budge. It wouldn't.   
"I have a few sticks of dynamite around here somewhere," said Nic devilishly.  
"You wouldn't dare! If I'd thought to bring my rune wand we'd be through without a single explosion," Carina pouted. "Shall we leave this one for next time? I know it's not best archaeological practice but it'll leave a much nicer structure to study, don't you think?"  
"Sure. We've got at least three more passages to explore, including the one that leads to your chamber."  
"Then let's go! Daylight's wastin'."

...

"I've never seen anything like it in my life."

Carina had permitted Nic to lift the fragment, oh so delicately, from its pedestal. Now he was staring at it, saucer-eyed. She shuffled impatiently against the cold. "I'm not even sure the extent of this thing's powers. We should probably leave it in here until we depart, and leave it out of our official AAE report entirely," Carina began. Nic hardly seemed to be listening.

"I guess I didn't really wrap my head around how real all this is- your other identity, the Soul Riders, Garnok, Pandoria, the Four Circles- until now. I can feel the energy in this," Nic said in awe.

"Right?! Just duck and cover when it gets used, them things can get messy," Carina yawned, scuffing the flagstone floor with a booted toe for emphasis.

"I-" Nic was cut off by the shriek of a very familiar bird.

 

"Tordie!" they chorused as the ice eagle came whirling down through the arches in the ceiling.

"The note! The note!" cried Carina, bouncing in excitement.

"Ahem." Nic set the fragment back in its resting place and detached and unfurled the note. Then his mouth fell open.

"Nic! What does it say?"

"My runic isn't as good as it should be, and this is some sort of riddle. It'd take me ages to find its truest meaning. Here, give it a shot."

Carina took the paper and unrolled it gingerly. 

 

_I am a wanderer like you, rooted for millennia yet never still. This eagle is my messenger to the yet unknowing world. A grim storm is rolling towards our valley. They will rip the skin from the earth._

_Do what you must to stop it._

 

 


	8. Likewise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carina and Nic discover the real identity of Tordie the Ice Eagle, and that of the danger threatening Dino Valley. Planning, plotting, convincing, and sappy goodbyes ensue. FIN.

The blood froze in Carina's veins. Her mind flew in a thousand directions at once, and then it all came together in a thunderclap.

"It's the Primeval from the Valley of the Frozen Mist!" she gasped. "It can communicate with all the other Primevals around Jorvik, and there's only one thing that would rip the skin from the land, it's GED or Dark Core or something and they're coming for the Valley! See, the Great Trees are all interconnected through their roots, they can be many places at once but-" she took a gulp for air. Her head felt light.

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down!" Nic put a steadying hand on her shoulder, and for a split second Carina's head stopped spinning. "Please tell me what you mean by 'Primeval.'"

Carina took a cleansing breath. "Actually, you know all about them, Nic- just not the name they call themselves. Primevals are what you might know as drasils, torsils, laoh, nimids, sacred groves, trees of life. They're all over Norse and Germanic mythology, and Jorvik's got plenty to its name."

Nic was nodding along. "Like the Yggdrasil- connecting all things. And-" he cast a look of disbelief at Tordenskjold- "I remember reading that a mysterious eagle lived in the branches of that very tree. It's even in the sagas of Snorri Sturluson!" His eyes danced.

Carina continued. "You're absolutely right. A Primeval- the Sleeping Widow- helped my friends and I free one of the missing Soul Riders from Pandoria earlier this year. She was far to the Southwest, on the Forgotten Coast, but she could communicate with Primevals in Valedale, the Harvest Counties, Epona... even to here. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sleeping Widow heard something, either in Pandoria or offshore, about Dark Core taking control of the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur, and shared that information with the other trees."

"So, Soul Rider- how do we plan on stopping them?"

"We find out what they want," Carina said slowly, "and then do whatever it takes to protect it."

...

They left the camp as it was. Carina dumped her saddlebags' contents in the tent that had been hers. They would travel faster without the burdens, and it was clear to both of them that Nic at least would be back eventually. On her way out of the temple complex, Carina snagged the fragment of Aideen's light and wrapped it in her hankerchief. Tordie took its place on the pedestal, watching her with a cocked head.  
"You'll help us keep this place safe, right?"  
The eagle chirped sagaciously.  
"I thought so."

Nic swung into Beryl's saddle. "To base camp? To warn Elsa and the others?"  
Carina nodded. "And I need to get out of the valley ASAP- to warn the druids."

With Rosie on a long lead, they took off at the fastest trot they could manage on such steep terrain.

With only riders and saddles instead of heavy packs the horses flew. Travelling downhill helped, especially once they'd left their deerpath from days before and reached the Frozen Road. There they were able to ride two abreast.

"You should have about a week and a half in provisions left over," Carina said brusquely. "Two if you ration well." She hated thinking about Nic staying up there in the cold and howling wind alone.

"As soon as we've made a plan with base camp I'm heading straight back up," he agreed. "I think my best contribution to stopping GED, or Dark Core-"  
"They're basically one and the same," Carina interjected. "Mr. Sands somehow controls GED and makes it do Dark Core's gruntwork. Besides, nobody's heard from Mr. Kemball, GED's supposed owner, for years."  
"Duly noted." Nic paused for reflection. "I think i can help stop our enemies by discovering the significance of the temple. If I can prove its value to the culture and heritage of Jorvik I can get it and the surrounding valley set aside as a National Monument, or even a World Heritage Site. Then GED and Dark Core couldn't touch it. But it'll take time."

"I think that's a wonderful idea," said Carina softly. "In the meantime I'll see if I can't get the druids and CHILL to cause enough disruption down at the coastline to prevent GED from moving up into the mountains."  
"CHILL?"  
"My eco-terrorist friends. you'd love them."

  
...

 

Nic and Carina blew into base camp just as the sun was starting its decline. They'd dropped by Nanook and Sedna's camp to spread their warning but found nobody home; they'd left a note.

They found Harley just brewing another pot of coffee and taking a pan of scones out of the woodstove.  
"I knew we came down here for a reason," Nic breathed as he inhaled.  
"And what reason would that be? Did you discern that your spires were nothing more than overgrown stalagmites?" Professor Einstein emerged from her tent, with pursed lips and raised eyebrows.  
"Actually, we have bad news to share." Carina broke in before it could become a standoff.

In the dining tent under a dense fug of smoke Carina laid out the story as they knew it. Though Elsa was dubious and dismissive when it came to the Primevals and messenger eagle, Berzelius and the archaeological staff all agreed that it was well within the realm of possibility, given their researches.

"I'm afraid I might have had something to do with word getting out," sighed Professor Berzelius after a moment of silence. "I published a report on the micropaleontology of the valley when I put out my biological overview of the region. The presence of certain prehistoric plankton often points to the presence of oil. I clearly stated that the organisms I found were _not_ indicators of oil, but I also added that the plankton fossils I found were unique, never before discovered. That might have opened the door to GED's inquiry."

"Don't blame yourself, Professor," Nic said. "I'm actually surprised they didn't make a move to control the valley sooner. According to Carina..."

Carina took over. "My... _studies_ show that there's traditionally been great reverence shown by early Jorvegians towards this area. Besides the temple, the Valley of the Frozen Mist is full of Aideenist ruins. GED and Dark Core usually target areas of religious significance, for whatever reason." _Some of which can still be used to access Pandoria... but saying that would lose Professor Einstein entirely._

  
"We'll remain vigilant," said Einstein tersely. "Losing this site to corporate interests would sound the death knell for my research."

The meeting was over.  
  
...

Nic rode with Carina to the trailhead.

"I suppose I'll send Tordenskjold whenever I have news for you," he said quietly.

Carina was heartsick. She hadn't mentally prepared herself for such a sudden departure from one of the most peculiar yet meaningful relationships she'd built while on Jorvik. "I can post letters to the base camp from below," she began, "and I'll bring fresh provisions up for you whenever I can."

Nic beamed. "I'll look forward to it. Now, the glider..."

"Don't even think about it!" Carina scolded. "I'm not leaving you up here alone and isolated and at the mercy of your aeronautical contraptions. I'd not sleep a wink knowing you could be crashed in yet another snowbank, trapped and helpless."

"So how am I supposed to get back up the mountain?" He folded his arms and smiled, guessing the answer.

"Beryl loves it up here- and he thinks you're none too shabby yourself. I trust him to keep you out of trouble."

Nic's face softened. "You're too kind. I'll bring him back to you happy, healthy, and chubby from feasting on ice thistles." He ran a hand down Beryl's fuzzy neck, and the gelding snorted into the frigid air as if to say, _you're wasting time._

Carina hadn't even considered giving one of her beloved horses to someone else for such a long, indeterminate length of time, but in this case it seemed only natural. She trusted Nic and Beryl to look out for each other- and take fewer risks knowing that they were responsible for another's life. And then, it was just another tie binding she and Nic together, one more reason for them to come back into each other's lives. Someday.

"So I guess we'll have to rain check that dinner at the observatory," Nic smiled ruefully. "It'll happen someday when the fate of the world no longer rests on our shoulders."

Carina harrumphed. And blushed. It was an awkward combination. "The fate of the world _lives_ on my shoulders- and now, probably yours too." She smiled. "But I'm counting the days until our date."

"One last question... the age difference doesn't bother you too much, does it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a good decade older than you. You're..."

"Twenty-four. And you are...?"

"Thirty-five." He grimaced. Carina busted out laughing.

"Nic, some part of me is _at least_ a thousand years old, maybe ageless. If anything, _you_ should be the one concerned about hitching your star to an old lady's wagon."

He smiled broadly. "Two old souls. I'm really going to miss you, Carina."

"I'm going to miss you, too."

A chill blast of wind came roaring down the mountain, reminding Carina of the dropping temperature and falling darkness.

"I think that's our cue to leave," she said softly, adjusting Rosie's lead and shifting in her stirrups. Rain lifted her head and swiveled her ears towards the open elevator far down the trail.

"Until we meet again." Nic gave a courtly bow from his saddle.

"Likewise." Before something sappier came tumbling out of her mouth, betraying the catch in her throat, Carina spurred her horses into a canter. She cast one look backwards over her shoulder just in time to see Nic blowing a kiss into the mist. Then, he was swallowed by the falling snow.


End file.
